Mandatory National Reliability Standards

Orginally published September 9, 2005

The passage last month of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 ("Act") marked the first step in a long road toward moving from voluntary to mandatory electricity reliability standards. Voluntary national reliability standards were created after a massive power outage in the Northeast during 1965 left millions in the dark. The organization that became the North American Electric Reliability Counsel ("NERC") was formed in 1968 to work with regional utilities to create a framework of voluntary electricity reliability standards and protocols for the continental U.S. Since the late 1990s, however, many have advocated the establishment of mandatory national reliability standards overseen by an organization that could impose sanctions for noncompliance.